Tartarus
by Avril Lambert
Summary: Hades, king of Tartarus, wants to overtake King Zeus and rule his kingdom. Hades sends his only daughter, Meg, to win over Zeus' son, Hercules and become his wife. But Hercules is betrothed to Princess Aurora. The two kingdoms must be joined to keep Tartarus from falling into ruins and Meg will do anything for her kingdom. But, what if the only way is to kill? How far will Meg go?
1. Chapter 1

Most people have never heard of the kingdom Tartarus. Being small and run-down, it was pretty much nothing compared to kingdoms such as Agrabah, Syracuse and the largest kingdom- Olympus. But, it was Megara's kingdom. At least, it will be as soon as her father, King Hades, kicks the bucket. He had to eventually, right?

The old hot-head can't live forever, Meg thought as she watched her father pace back and forth.

King Hades muttered something under his breath and ran his hand through his hair. His black robe was dragging across the stone floor, gathering dust on the bottom- but he didn't notice. Meg watched her father pace, imagining him having a heart attack right then and there. She waited- no such luck. Finally, she cleared her throat, allowing her presence in the room to be known. King Hades stopped walking and looked over at her.

"You wanted to see me?" Meg asked.

"Of course. How did what go?"

"How did what go?" Meg asked.

Hades frowned. "The dinner?" Meg continued to pretend like she didn't know what he was talking about. "With Prince Naveen?"

"Oh. That." Meg shrugged. "It didn't work out."

"What do you mean it didn't work out?" Hades snapped.

Meg groaned and sat down on one of the chairs. "He was completely spoiled and self-centered. I had to practically sit on my hands to keep from throwing my dinner knife at his throat to shut him up."

Hades slammed his fists onto the wooden table next to Meg. The anger and intensity behind the impact caused the table to break in half. Meg stared at it with wide eyes, but then stood up and started walking across the room.

"We can't afford for you to be picky!" Hades shouted. "Maldonia is a thriving kingdom and that spoiled prince's parents have more money than you and I have ever seen in our lifetime."

Meg paused near her father's glass Chess set. "Correction- they _had_ more money. It seems our dear friend Prince Naveen managed to spend their way right into a debt larger than their kingdom. Now Naveen has to marry a wealthy princess or his parents will disown him and won't become king." To emphasize her point, Meg flicked the transparent king off the Chess board and it shattered on the floor. "He's as desperate for wealth as you are."

Hades scowled at his only daughter. "You sound like your brother."

"That's not an insult," Meg retorted. "Pitch is smart."

"He was a coward. He ran away from his responsibilities."

"You're so backwards! When Pitch married Queen Elsa, he chose to move to Arendelle and rule her kingdom with her instead of staying here. That was the smartest thing he's ever done."

Hades waved his hand dismissively and went back to pacing. "Good riddance. Our kingdom is better off without him. He tried using fear to intimidate people into giving him what he wanted instead of just taking it."

"Better off?" Meg seized her father by the arm and dragged him onto the balcony. "Look at _your _kingdom, father!"

Hades has always been a greedy king. Still, he once had a strong ally- King Dymas of Syracuse. Their alliance lasted many years. But, eventually Hades wanted more than just the alliance; he wanted Dymas' kingdom. Hades declared war on Dymas and the victor would rule Syracuse. But, Hades greatly underestimated Dymas. The Syracuse king had many allies and a powerful army. He brought the war to Tartarus and Hades suffered a massive defeat… as did the people of Tartarus. Homes were destroyed, most of the soldiers were killed, blood and bodies filled the streets. Now, a year later, the kingdom looks almost apocalyptic. Homes and buildings are falling apart, but people continue to live in them. Debris and rubble lie in piles everywhere. Many people lost their homes and now live on the streets. Even their palace had some damage done to it. From the balcony where they stood, Meg could see the kingdom's tattered flag in the distance, barely hanging onto a bent post. Stories of Tartarus have spread throughout nearby kingdoms and many refer to it as the depths of the Underworld. Meg would have to agree with him.

But, it was still her home. Pitch and their mother have found ways out, but Meg would not leave her kingdom.

"This is what happens when you try to take things from other people," Meg told her father.

Hades laughed at his daughter as if she was a toddler speaking nonsense. "My dear daughter, my nutmeg; kings do not become great and powerful by being submissive."

"Our kingdom is practically in ruins."

Hades looked down at Meg. "But it's still standing. Dymas did this to us, but we _will _fight back."

"Fight back?" Meg repeated. "Most of our men are dead. The only way we can fight back is to form an alliance with another kingdom. And I don't know if you've noticed, but everyone hates us!"

"That's where you come in, Megara." Hades motioned for Meg to follow him back inside.

They walked over to a large, rolled up scroll hanging on the wall. Hades unrolled it to reveal a map. At the center of the map was Tartarus and scattered all around the map were other kingdoms. The ones closest to Tartarus had big, black Xs through them.

"There are kingdoms so far from here that they've never even heard of us. Like Maldonia. You will marry into one of these families and join our kingdoms before word reaches them."

"Well, so far…" Meg picked up a quill pen off the floor beside the broken wooden table "…your plan isn't working." She drew an X over the kingdom of Maldonia.

"A minor setback. There are plenty of other kingdoms with boyish princes looking for a princess to handle them like a man."

Meg narrowed her eyes at her father. "I've sworn off man handling."

Hades gripped Meg's wrist and held it over a candle, dangerously close to the flame. The candle flickered and caught one of the feathers of the pen Meg was holding. The fire spread down the pen to Meg's hand. Meg fought to get free.

"You will do as I say," Hades snarled. "You are my daughter and therefore I own you." He let go of her wrist and she quickly dropped the pen. "You best remember that."


	2. Chapter 2

Meg rubbed her sore wrist while watching the fire consume the feather pen until there was nothing left but ashes. It brought back memories of watching parts of her kingdom go up in flames when Syracuse and its allies invaded Tartarus. She heard women screaming and children wailing as their homes and everything they owned were destroyed. Dymas, of course, didn't care; nor did her father. Meg did, however, but there was nothing she could do. She was "just a princess", according to her father- and princesses were not to interfere in matters of war. Now that Megara has seen the affects of war on her kingdom, she vowed never to stand idly by again.

"What exactly is our next step?" Meg finally asked her father.

Hades eyed the map. "Our main target is Olympus- the largest kingdom. King Zeus has a son, Hercules. We'll send you-"

"I don't meant to interrupt, father; but every princess from every kingdom is after Prince Hercules. Perhaps we should try for one of the smaller kingdoms."

Hades shook his head. "We'll work our way down if need be." He turned to face his daughter. "If you fail."

Meg bit her tongue to keep from telling her father she would prefer to fail. Tartarus didn't need a spoiled, stuffed-pants prince like Hercules. No doubt his ego was a big as his kingdom. Meg had never met him, but she had met enough princes to know his type: the bigger the kingdom, the smaller the personality. Not exactly someone Meg wanted to spend the rest of her life ruling a kingdom with. However, Meg wasn't too concerned with that. With all the princesses vying for his attention, Meg was sure to get lost in the crowd. Hercules would choose some other woman, and Meg could find a prince more suited for her kingdom.

"Your opportunity to enthrall the prince will come in one month at his birthday ball," Hades continued.

"That ball is exclusive, father. No one gets in without an invitation," Megara pointed out.

"I'm well aware of that daughter," Hades snapped. "I will arrange to leave in the morning and make my way to Olympus. I'll get on good terms with Zeus and merit an invitation. The rest will be up to you."

"How long will you be gone?"

Hades ran a hand over his face. "A couple weeks tops."

Meg nodded. "Very well."

"Now go find Captain Phoebus and tell him I want to speak to him immediately."

"Yes, father."

Meg turned on her heel and immediately walked out of the room; she didn't want her father to see her excitement. Since her father no longer had any allies, he very rarely ever left the kingdom to do any sort of business. She had been stuck in the palace with him for about a year and she couldn't wait for him to leave. King Hades' presence was nothing short of a suffocating blanket of smoke that was always lingering around. For the next couple weeks, Meg will finally be able to breathe.

Meg knew Phoebus would most likely be in the training room training the new soldiers. Since most of the kingdom's men died in the war, young boys barely older than fourteen were recruited in case of any future wars; and with the enemies Hades had, another war was inevitable. Though, Hades being gone would give Meg a chance to try and fix the alliances with some of the nearby kingdoms. She knew most of the kings would never even let her near their castles, but with some of them there was hope. All Tartarus needed was one ally to ensure the next war won't be a complete massacre. Phoebus was a fine captain and Megara had no doubt that he could train these boys to be soldiers; but at the end of the day they were still just kids and the last thing Tartarus needed was a reputation for sending children to be slaughtered in a war. Though, without any allies, Tartarus may completely fall to ruins in the next war and there will no longer be a kingdom to gossip about.

When Meg reached the training room she found Phoebus in the middle of sword training with a skinny blonde boy who could barely hold the sword. Phoebus was going easy on the boy and Meg could tell, even from where she was standing, the last thing he wanted to be doing was teaching a boy how to fight in a war.

"Pardon my intrusion," Meg said.

Phoebus and the boy instantly stopped and turned to face her. They gave her a slight bow.

"It's no intrusion, your highness," Phoebus told her. "What can we do for you?"

"My father wishes to speak to you, Phoebus."

"Of course." The captain looked down at the boy. "Arthur, take a break and get something to eat."

"Yes, sir." Arthur ran out of the room so fast, one would think he had eaten days. The sad truth was he probably hadn't. It was more than likely his father had died in the war and now his family was barely bringing in any money. They could even be one of the unfortunate families forced to live on the streets.

"Is everything all right, princess?" Phoebus asked.

Meg arched her eyebrow at him. "Phoebus, I know I have told you more than once that you don't have to be so formal with me. We've known each other most of our lives; please call me Meg."

"Fair enough, Meg. Do you know what your father wants?"

"He's planning on leaving for Olympus in the morning."

Phoebus frowned. "This can't be good."

"He's going in hopes of earning us an invitation to the ball next month, so I can attempt to seduce Prince Hercules into proposing to me."

Phoebus tried to suppress a laugh, but it came out as a chuckle. "You and Hercules?"

Meg made a face. "I know. But the reality of it is that a marriage between the Olympus prince and myself would be very fortunate for Tartarus and I have to put my kingdom before myself."

Phoebus smiled at her. "Spoken like a true queen. You will be a great ruler someday."

"Thank you, my friend. However, until my father is... _deceased__, _there is little I can do right now."

"Don't be so humble, Megara. Your father will be gone for a while and I know you have something planned for while he's away."

Meg gave Phoebus a sly smile. "Indeed, I do. I plan to go to Syracuse."


End file.
